Wednesday, Mar. 17, 2010

Treasure hunt captivates sleuths

Seasonal search offers reward

At precisely 1:32 p.m. on March 20, Raleigh artist Lillian Jones will release a map leading to a hidden treasure, and a certain group of intrepid treasure hunters is sure to be at the front of the starting line.

After all, Team SLX is a defending champion of sorts, coming off a brilliant piece of sleuthing last fall, when it discovered that Jones had hidden a key to a treasure in a book in the D.H. Hill Library at N.C. State University.

But it took awhile.

A cleverly drawn treasure map and tantalizing clues posted on a web site led the search squad on a merry three-month odyssey that took them all over Raleigh in their quest to break the code and find the key.

Jones, 50, is an artist specializing in jewelry design. The writer and musician has recently added "puzzle master" to her impressive resume of creative ingenuity.

A famous two-decade treasure hunt in England captured Jones' imagination, inspiring her to follow suit.

Kit Williams, a British artist, wrote and illustrated a book containing clues to finding a buried 18-karat gold pendant.

The cryptic tale woven in "Masquerade" attracted a worldwide audience, drawn in by mystery and scandal. The key to finding the prize was revealed only twice a year at the Spring and Autumn Equinox, when the sun shown perfectly on a specific statue, casting a shadow that pointed to the treasure's burial spot.

"I have always wanted to create a treasure hunt because I thought it would be fun," Jones said. "It's also a way to give back to the community."

Jones launched her first treasure hunt on June 21, 2009, at 1:45 p.m., the Summer Solstice. She hid a key in a hole at the base of a tree in Oakwood Cemetery and drew an elaborate map to the site. But it was too easy. About a dozen hunters turned out, and someone found the key to her treasure in less than 48 hours.

So she made the next treasure hunt harder and released the map and clues at the Autumn Equinox at 5:18 p.m. on Sept. 22. The hunt drew 300 seekers, but the key lay hidden for three months until it was discovered December 22, the Winter Solstice.

The treasure hunters

Pat Hall, 55, had a feeling last autumn's treasure hunt would be fun. She took the map to a group of friends who meet regularly at Sadlack's on Raleigh's Hillsborough Street.

"I just introduced everyone to it, and they ran with it," she said. " didn't know they'd get so absorbed."

The group of four women and one man dubbed themselves SLX. The quest took over their lives.

Joy Taylor, 53, was obsessed. "I couldn't sleep," she recalled. "I thought about it all the time."

Lisa Lewis, 47, didn't care about the treasure. "I just wanted to win," she said.

The hunt took them first to the State Capitol grounds on a rainy, miserable day.

"We felt up every one of those statues at the Capitol," Joy said.

But they came up empty.

The map's image of an arbor entwined with flowers led the team to the Raleigh Rose Garden. A clue posted on Jones' web site said to look for a riddle on a wooden frame.

Rose Garden fixation

The Rose Garden was teeming with other treasure hunters. Paranoia set in, and SLX convinced themselves that a mysterious woman stalked them. They jealously guarded their clues.

The team spent up to six hours at a time in the garden.

"I have lived in Raleigh all my life and had never spent so much time in the Rose Garden," Lewis said. "We could give guided tours."

Helen Newton, 50, learned all she needs to know about roses. "We looked for clues on every plaque at every rose bush in that garden," she said.

Finally, as the team searched the garden's arbor, Matt Casey, 37, pulled back a camellia bush and they looked up to discover an engraved brass plaque attached to the top of the arbor over their heads directing them to seek out a "wizard in the glen."

More weeks went by as they searched for a wizard, until Taylor drove through Glenwood South wracking her brain. The thought 'ask who?' rang through her head.

"I was drawn to the Askew Taylor art supply store," she said. The team went to the store seeking the wizard.

Their hearts leaped as they were led to a back room, where store owner Kirk Taylor produced - a ring?

"I was frustrated," Casey said. "I thought we had finally found the key, but it was just another clue."

Pages of enlightenment

Lewis recognized a series of letters and numbers engraved on the ring as numerals used to catalog books in libraries.

A search of the Library of Congress website came up empty, but they hit pay dirt with Google.

More digging led to the fifth floor of the D.H. Hill Library, where they discovered the slender silver key, fashioned as a book mark, tucked among the pages of Kit Williams' book, "Masquerade."

"Through it all, I learned that I was a really bored person," Taylor said. "This opened up a real adventure."

Lewis appreciated the opportunity to get outside.

"The whole experience opened up a new portal for us," she said.

"We had a great time. It was healthy. We got exercise and we enjoyed seeing the beautiful things outside."

Even before her autumn puzzle was solved, Jones was hard at work on this spring's treasure hunt. The key to her treasure, a gold and enamel pendant, is already hidden.

There's a certain magic Jones seeks to invoke through her treasure hunts. Her mission is to take people to places that exist in her imagination.

And her imagination is a pretty big place - at least as big as Raleigh.